CLEVELAND -- There are generally two ways we can respond when encountering someone whose opinions we find erroneous or outrageous:

We can listen, consider the worth of what's being said, arm ourselves with information and then defeat it with knowledge. Or, we can figuratively (or literally) stick our fingers in our ears and loudly sing, "La, la, la, la, la," until the speaker is finished or goes away.

More and more in this country, we are selecting the second way. We are becoming a nation of ostriches.

An ostrich looks out through the open weave of a chain-link fence at the former city zoo in Buenos Aires, Argentina.Natacha Pisarenko, Associated Press, File, 2016

Too often, our first instinct in dealing with information or opinions we don't like is to try to prevent people from speaking. Failing that, we refuse to listen.

And thus, we either decline to expose ourselves to ideas that might broaden our understanding - or we allow bad ideas and conspiracy theories to fester and grow in the homogenous, unchallenged murk of extremism.

Either way, rigorous examination of the world and our place in it is the loser.

We see weekly manifestations on college campuses.

And last week, we saw a more universal example in the days leading up to NBC News host Megyn Kelly's interview with Alex Jones on her "Sunday Night with Megyn Kelly" news show.

If you're like me, before last week, you were only dimly aware that Alex Jones exists. Say his name and I'd give you a blank look. Give me a hint, and I'd say, "Oh, yeah ... he's the nutcase who thinks 9/11 was a government conspiracy, and the Sandy Hook school massacre was staged theater."

What I had not known, though, was the depth of his intellectual depravity, and how widespread his influence has become.

After watching Kelly's report on Jones and his Infowars.com website, that lamentable hole in my storehouse of knowledge has now been filled.

Is that important? I think so. Know thine enemy, the scriptures say. And the enemies of truth and enlightenment are fabricated nonsense and obfuscation - Alex Jones' stock in trade.

If our growing contingent of ostriches had had their way, however, Jones would have remained in the shadows for a lot of us, spreading his nonsense to unquestioning sycophants.

Kelly had to withstand withering criticism from people who didn't want Jones to have a "public platform" for his odious views ... who tried to bully her into pulling the segment.

And sponsor JPMorgan Chase & Co. quailed from the controversy, pulling its ads from the show. The NBC affiliate that serves the Newtown, Connecticut, area refused to air it, and Kelly was dropped as the host of a fundraising gala for Sandy Hook Promise, a gun violence prevention organization.

But she persisted, as they say. Good for her, and good for journalism.

The forces of censorship, as they so often do, completely missed the point of the broadcast, and the reason it was important.

You don't defeat made-up conspiracy theories by attempting to keep people from hearing them. You do it by holding them up for public examination. "Sunlight is said to be the best of disinfectants," wrote the late Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis of hateful ideas.

The significance of Sunday's interview was not that Jones was given a national forum to raise his profile, or that his appearance might have caused pain to the Sandy Hook parents still grieving the loss of their little ones. It was that a national audience got a good look at just who Alex Jones is.

And that people who might be inclined to give credibility to his message got the chance to focus on the flimsy foundation of his theories under Kelly's calm but unrelenting cross-examination.

Kelly nailed it in her opening remarks on the show:

"Some thought that we shouldn't broadcast this interview because his baseless allegations were not just offensive ... they're dangerous," she said.

"But here's the thing: Alex Jones isn't going away. Over the years, his YouTube channel has racked up 1.3 billion views. He has millions of listeners - and the ear of our current president."

Did you read that? More than one billion views since Jones began publicly fomenting.

Later in the show, Kelly cited an even more staggering figure: Jones' monthly YouTube count in November 2016 was 83 million views - including some from President Donald Trump.

Many of those people inclined to believe his accusations at least had the chance Sunday night - perhaps for the first time - to see how transparent they are.

Demagogues like Jones operate best in a vacuum. Citizens need journalists to take him out of his managed persona; to question and provide perspective. That's what Megyn Kelly did Sunday night.

Unfortunately, the ostriches got their wish, up to a point. Neilsen figures show that Kelly's audience Sunday was 3.5 million, down 1.7 million from her June 4 debut interview with Vladimir Putin.

That's 1.7 million people who didn't get to watch Jones wiping away sweat as Kelly held his feet to the fire and challenged him to defend his views; who didn't get to see him pass off some of his accusations as "playing devil's advocate;" and apologize for others.

Those who fought against the broadcast thought they were protecting something.

They were not. They were helping to enable a monster.

Ted Diadiun is a member of the editorial board of cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer.

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